The UAE - Iran match takes place at 11:45 p.m. (Vietnam time) on October 7 at Zabeel Stadium in the UAE. In the first two matches, Iran beat Syria 1-0 and beat Iraq 3-0. Team Melli ( Iranian nickname) is currently sitting comfortably at the top of the table. In contrast, the UAE had 2 disappointing matches. They drew 0-0 at home to Lebanon despite creating many scoring opportunities. After that, the UAE drew 1-1 with Syria despite taking a lead.
The UAE team is determined to qualify for the first time since 1990. But their journey is facing many difficulties. The UAE team is very eager to defeat Iran, but their head-to-head record with their opponents is very poor.
According to statistics, coach Bert van Marwijk's team has not won against Iran in 14 meetings. They have lost 10 and drawn only 4 matches. In the last 3 meetings, Iran have won all 3 points, including a 1-0 victory in the group stage of the 2015 Asian Cup.
In terms of form, Iran is having a very impressive streak of results when winning all 5 recent matches. Meanwhile, the UAE have only won 3 and drawn 2 in the last 5 matches. In preparation for the match against Iran, the Zabeel team has called up 28 players. However, they will not have the service of naturalized striker Caio Canedo due to injury.
The home team will rely heavily on the experience of striker Ali Mabkhout, who has scored 77/97 goals in international matches. In addition, captain Walid Abbas will also be a support for his teammates. The UAE team called up a number of new players in the defense such as Abdulaziz Haikal, Ahmed Rashid, Majed Rashid and Mohammed Abbas.
Meanwhile, Iran has not had many changes in its squad compared to September. Coach Dragan Skocic still has faith in the squad of stars playing in Europe such as striker Sardar Azmoun of Zenit St.Petersburg, Mehdi taremi of Porto, midfielder Saman Ghoddos of Brentford and star of Feyenoord Alireza Jahanhsh.
Iran is currently ranked 22nd in the world and number 1 in Asia. They are an opponent that all teams are afraid of, because of their comprehensiveness in both attack and defense, as well as having many stars who always know how to shine at the right time. Iran is likely to continue its winning streak against the UAE even though the score will not have a big difference.
Expected lineups of the two teams:
UAE (4-3-3): Ali Khasif; Bandar Al-Ahbabi, Shahin Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamees; Abdelrahman Ali Hassan, Majed Hassan, Abdullah Ramadan; Fabio Lima, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue.
Iran (4-4-2): Alireza Beiranvand; sadghgh Moharrami, Hossein Kanaanizadeganegan, Shojae Khalilzadeh, Omid Noorafkan; Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Saeed Ezatolahi, Ahmad Nourollahi, Vahid Amiri; Sardar Az moun, Mehdi taremi.
Prediction: UAE 0-1 Iran
